The traditional infant Jewish circumcision (the ‘Bris’) is performed using a shield and knife (Scalpel). By tradition, the ideal Jewish circumcision removes sufficient foreskin to allow the area just behind the glans to be completely bare and free from rolls of excess foreskin.

The foreskin is pulled out in front of the glans and a metal shield with a slot in it is slid over the foreskin immediately in front of the glans. The scalpel is then run across the distal face of the shield to remove the foreskin. The glans is protected by the shield. The remaining inner skin over the glans (shown in orange) is then removed (traditionally using the mohel's sharpened fingernail, but nowadays using surgical instruments) so that a tight and 'low' result is achieved, with healing by 'second intention'.

Equipment

The image on the left shows a typical antique Mohel’s kit. The kit on the right is more typical of 20th century design.

Acknowledgements
The following resources were used in the preparation of this web page: